9/25/2006

Things I will be able to do as of October 20, 2006:
1.) Pass out Halloween candy on the steps of MY NEW HOUSE.

I said it. This weekend we became homeowners, baby! I don't think I've ever been more excited in my life. Ever. We made an offer on Friday and then flew off to St. Louis where they counter-offered, and we gave it right back to them, and then they accepted and the clouds parted and the angels sang with trumpets that I had a new house.

I'm obsessed. I can't stop thinking about it. Goodbye Steeplechase apartment: place where I got engaged, place where I had my first real live New Years Party, place where I found my love for home decoration, place where I moved in after marriage, place where each of my friends have visited, place where I've dined on illegal amounts of Taco Bell, and place where Montie did his tea-bagging.

We're doing a home inspection this week and I promise when I go, I'll take pictures until my camera breaks. I'll take so many and show them to you all. The only thing is, I'll be really ticked if I end up winning the Martha Stewart KB home that I have been registering for daily.

Moving on, this weekend we were in lovely St. Louis on account of Holly's wedding shower at the University Club. Fancy, schmancy. It was really a nice trip. I wasn't sickly this time and the flights were not bumpy.
Here are the select pictures from the nicest shower I've ever been to:

The Bride-to-be opening gifts. She got a STEAMER, people.


Party Lady.


The Bridesmaids. I look like throw up on a stick.

So, it was a great time. I currently am feeling like I either have the ecoli virus after I spotted some spinach leaves in the salad of the best meal I have ever eaten at a restaurant downtown this weekend. Or, maybe it was the piece of pink sausage that I ate as part of some good pizza. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating.
But nothing a little cup of my coffee or a thought of my house can fix.

9/20/2006

HOW IN THE HOLY HECK DID I PREVIOUSLY LIVE WITHOUT BARBACOA.

Ah, I, for the second time just visited my local Chipolte and feasted on the juicy pulled spiced meat from the heavens. Seriously. Never again will I order my burrito with that hit-or-miss chicken, where, by your third bite, you discover you've just injested a chewy ball of chicken fat. No, no, no. Sweet beef, you, plus that rice, equals 10 extra pounds that I will gladly gain. God, but now, I have battled the burrito, and I could jump in a swimming pool and go straight to the bottom like those rings that the swimming instructor used to toss into the deep end and test me to get. And I would cry and swallow water because they wouldn't let me use my goggles. And to hell if I was going to open my eyes under water.

So, lots going on, but I'm not gonna count those chickens before they hatch. Let's just say we're hot on the trail of my dream home. Shout out to the Baby J..please make Brian love this house. More to come, after my heart stops beating like I'm in the 2nd great and going on a first date.

So, might I say, that there is some major TV going on right now.
Ok, so me and Brian just finished watching Rockstar: Supernova. Holla for my boy Lukas Rossi:

He took it all. Even though he sounds like porkchops and applesauce, he did it. He was totally my favorite and Brian's worst nightmare. We actually watched every episode together. I think it was the first time Brian watched TV since he was born. But it was a rock show, and that's why he loved it. Maybe that and Storm Large. eww.

Also, I've taken a liking to Dancing with the Stars. Beats the heck outta dodge why I taped that first show, but I am severly hooked now. Give it a chance people. It grows on you. This afternoon, I was even trying out some hip move I saw on the Mambo show last night and I think I shook it too hard because I kind of had to go to the bathroom all of the sudden and it hurt. Yes. Dancing in the office all by myself for a quick minute. Probably should just remain seated. I have made the following observations about this show:

- The new, bald Joey Lawrence can't have a wife at home with a cute Georgia accent. He's so gay, it's not even funny. They must paint his pants on, because that butt makes me just want to reach through my TV screen and slap it.

-Cheryl the professional dancer has that haircut that just makes you want it.

-I kind of have a massive crush on that latin-looking Max man. Willa Ford and her stupid music tattoo's dancing partner. I wouldn't mind dancing some steamy Cuban number with him where you couldn't even slip an envelope between our faces.

-The Kristen chick that is the co-host is the most annoying martian ever. She is stiff, needs to lay off the arm excercises, and probably just needs to relax her effing arms and hands instead of folding her hands and kind of holding and hovering them out and over her pecs. I mean, shake it out for pete's sake.

-I want to carve the dimples out of Slater's cheeks and put them in a jar on my desk.
They are that cute. I would probably put them in my mouth.

So yeah, give that show a shot. I also taped Jericho (shout out to my homeland, Kansas) and freaking America's Next Top Model came at me with a 2 hour premiere tonight. My Tivo is blowing up on Wednesday's. I'm probably just not going to bed tonight. Tyra, Miss Jay, Tessa (needs chapstick) and the Laguna kids, and lest not forget the Loreal Paris make-up room and the Macy's fashion accessory wall. It's really a great time to be alive.

Sidenote:
Was purchasing birthday card for my manhunk today and picked up a half off canvas with the following painted on it; my new motto:
"if you're handed it
you can handle it."

9/14/2006

Mama's back, she's got here cup of Folger's coffee and a waterfall of flem cascading down the back of my throat,
into the lung region.

Lot's to discuss, people!
First we re-cap the trip to Chicago/Minnesota. We had a nice service for my Gramma and it was so nice to see a lot of family that we don't get to see too often. Hanging out with my family is a good time. Dad's juggling the free apples in the lobby, Uncle K is on his 12th bag of free popcorn even though he's not a guest at the hotel, my dad's cousin from Michigan is telling us how he drove through 7 toll booths without paying on the way up here, and Gramcracker can't figure out how to make or receive calls on her new cell phone (which I contine to call from a sofa about 5 feet away, sneakingly.)

All in all, the services made me wake up a bit and change a few things in my life. It made me power up a bit. My dad spoke at one service and he is such a powerful speaker. It was sad to see him sad, but also all of the things he said made me proud to be a Hall.

Chicago meant a trip to Giardanos (best deep dish pizza in history), hearing that my Gramma got to go to the Container Store and I didn't, eating at the White Fence Farm where the friend chicken was coated in the crispiest grease crust I have ever been a part of, and participating in the glory that is Elmhurst, Illinois.

On Friday night, Dad drove me and Brian to the airport where we caught a flight to Minneapolis to meet up with Joe for a trip that we had originally planned for Labor Day. It was just what we needed at the end of an emotional last few days. A little fun.

So we booked it on over to the downtown area and headed straight for a Head Automatica show. Best band ever. Love Daryl, love his tight pants and white belts. It was so good to just dance on the upper balcony with Brian and Joe. I even scored a sweet T-Shirt designed for the band by American Apparel. After the show, we ate too much and painted the town a bit before I totally cashed out for the night and required a taxi ride home to my pillow at the Holiday Inn.

The next day it was off to Ikea (duh!) and Mall of America. I confirmed my love for the Swedish Store after 4 hours of devoted shopping, and then we headed across the street for MOA, as they so call it. HOLY CRAP. Like, I love shopping as much as the next person, but this was just crazy and overwhelming. I could have done without the 67-football fields worth of amusement parks in the middle of the mall that has every store. Too many people and I would never do my shopping there even if I lived right next door. But, alas, they had every store immaginable and that made me happy and the boys mad. I dragged them into places. Like Archivers. Oops. Joe got a bad rash from something he tried on at the Nordstrom Rack, and we also saw the Miss Sunshine movie. It killed me. Seriously. Go see it, immediately. Drop what you are doing. I'll pay for the tickets. I was crying I was laughing so hard during the horn scene. Just brilliant. Then, it was a long, dark drive to Taco Bell, and then even further into the farmland forests of rural MN to Joe's Dad's house. Honestly, I think Brian was just happy to be in Minnepolis because it was the headquarters of Best Buy.
It felt like home.

The next day we had a huge breakfast full of real live ham, and these Northern deals where they are like balls of friend dough and you roll them in butter and then roll them in sugar. And then I had a heart attack.
That day, we were off to the Walker Art Museum. Not to be confused with Texas Ranger.

This was one of the coolest art museums I have ever been in. Very modern and very interesting. Nicely laid out and just kept my attention the whole time. We puttsed around there for most of the day and then went home to chill out for awhile before heading back downtown. I was a titch sad that we didn't get to go to the museum to see the Bodyworks exhibit where they have taken real cadavers and teach you about the human body, kind of artfully.
It looked interesting, but I would probably have ralphed all over the display case.

The next day it was home in Joe's minivan and I basically slept the whole ride home. Sheesh.
But now, may I present to you, all of our pictures from the trip.

So, in other news, we went to St. Louis for Holly and Jon's bach. parties, however, a nasty cold came on quick the day we were flying in and basically killed me for the whole weekend. I did, however, get to play a little 'pin the macho on the man' and also did manage to purchase a T shirt at the 'Double D Lounge', so all was not lost. Holly had an awesome time taping peni to radom places in each bar we went. We also had a PERFECT dinner and some Pimms to drink at The Pitted Olive.

Since then, I'm still sick and had the day of my life on Tuesday. Recently, my car had totally shut off at a stop light and the air conditioning smelled like sour cream, slash, a gas fire. Hence, I made an appointment at the local Ford dealership, which is about 6 days away, up hill, in the snow.

So, I start out driving, get about ten minutes away (appointment is at 8, so it's rush hour) and then all of the sudden the smell gets so horrible, I'm about to pass out, and the temperature gage goes from C, and shoots straight up to H. So, naturally, I pull over and wait. I figure a good ten minutes should work. I wait. Tired. No makeup. No big bowl of Lucky Charms yet. So then I start it up again, get turned to go back on the road, going for .01 seconds and the temp is back up in the red zone. So, I pull back into the parking lot, which happens to be an adult store, so it looks like I'm camping out at 7:55am, waiting to purchase. But I'm not. I'm pissed, I call the dealership, he says wait for 15 minutes and let it cool and try to make it or call the tow truck. Not really wanting to tow, I think I can make it. So I wait.. after 15 minutes and a few calls to Mom, I gear back up to start the car and make it. Well, I'm doing good, heater on to cool the engine, and I am driving, baby. Pretty quickly, I notice that hill I'm going up does not agree with the gas pedal that I'm pushing to the floor. I'm going up the hill and my speedometer is decreasing...rapidly. By sheer will, I get it up the hill, it dies, and then immediately my power steering goes out and so does my breaks. I'm turning into a neighborhood, praying to make it, but also headed straight for a school bus, and I can't turn the wheel. I probably broke my car, but I turned that wheel as hard as can be, got into a cul-de-sac and called the F-ing tow Grampa. I was so mad and frustrated. But after 30 minutes, he came (did I mention it was dark and about 50 degrees and my body was participating in a cold?) and we were towed to the dealership. Then I had to wait a million years more for the shuttle back. I had to sit in this dirty lounge listening to this huge man on his cell phone yell, "NAME DIAL. JAMES!" and then the phone would call James. Then, "NAME DIAL: RICHARD!" Man, it was just too much. He also had on those shoes that on the heel there are little springs so you can build your calf muscles.

So, the car is fixed, I'm back at home, and I really had a good day yesterday. The Martha show is back on TV with a brand new season and I am just thrilled. I'm trying to win a home built by martha in her latest contest. I'll let you know how that goes. Today Jeff Probst is on and their making a Pu-Pu platter in honor of the Survivor debut.
Now she's making a skirt that doesn't require a stitch! That martha..

We're starting the home hunt.. Going to see houses this weekend. I had a starbucks yesterday, cleaned the house, felt good about work, taped dancing with the stars, the weather's getting very cooler, my blog looks better, groceries have been bought, and we have a weekend at home in a few days. I just feel so good right now.

I also purchased the latest TV Guide, telling me all about the new shows that are starting. HOLY CRAP I LOVE TV. Did anyone catch Project Runway last night? Can they possible throw any more twists in? Bring two losers back, use all your scraps, then three people get cut? Come on Angela, who were you trying to fool with that vampire shrug that looks like it threw up rosettes. And Vincent's replacement model looked like a MAN. Too bad for that bike accident. Jeffery kills me. His comments are hilarious. And bless Laura's heart. I love her too. Carry on..

And, I'm spent.

9/11/2006

Alright, Alright.
For those of you about to wet your pants, I'm here.
I've got to tell you all about my trip to Chicago, Minnesota, and most recently, St. Louis
(where I aquired the worst cold in history).

I'm in the process of a redesign. Hope you likey. I've still got to update many links, so keep checking back, people. Right now, I've sat in front of the computer for about 6 hours, my eyeballs are bleeding, I'm coughing out a lung, and I haven't showered since Saturday morning.

I'll post a sweet one tomorrow, so just hold tight.

Also, I hope you remembered the people who lost their lives today, five years ago.
Tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.
And God bless our service men and women who are protecting our right to freedom.